Finding a good pair of mens hiking boots can be a hard time. Especially nowadays, when there are a lot of different types offered in the market. In this article I will focus and give you some advice and tips about how to choose a good mens hiking boots for the purpose of hiking in the nature as well as everyday use.

So, what do I mean about a good mens hiking boots? First, very important factor is the price, but as those boots are meant to protect your feet from injuries and ensure if the hike will be enjoyable or a suffering, I would leave the price aside for a moment and concentrate on the purposes and the functionality that those mens hiking boots are meant for.

The first and a very crucial purpose of wearing a hiking boots is to support your ankle. So, if you intend to hike a mountains or a rough terrain you should look for a high boots as those provide the best support for the ankle. If your intention is hiking a countryside or an easy terrain you can look for a middle or a low hiking boots as those give your feet more flexibility. I personally prefer a middle-high mens hiking boots as those give me enough flexibility and protection as well. For those who suffer from an ankle problems or a chronic sprain my advice is: don’t take chances and go for a high mens hiking boots!

Second thing you should keep in mind when choosing a suitable mens hiking boots is whether you go for a waterproof or a non waterproof ones. The non waterproof type are usually lighter and the air circulation in the boot is much better than in a waterproof ones. So if you are planning to hike in an arid climate, the non waterproof boots probably would be a better choice, but, many people, and I am among of them, don’t buy boots just for a one hike, and this is where also the price factor comes in. The waterproof hiking shoes not just give you the protection from water but also they are much longer lasting. Also, nowadays usually the waterproof shoes are a mixture of a waterproof materials with a breathable ones that allow an air circulation and a waterproof at the same time. One more thing you may consider, that a waterproof shoes usually provide you a better protection from dry shrubs, insects…etc.

The third thing, when you are considering to purchase a mens hiking boots. It is important to take at least one size bigger than you usually wear because, first you don’t want to suffer from a jock itches during your hike, especially if it’s a couple of days hike and second you may want to wear a second pair of socks.

Here, you will find more information about the best hiking boots, based on this blog audience reviews. So please, don’t forget to vote and comment!

This is just awsome! Here is something for the summer. Shoes with fingers, like a gloves! Actually it’s not a “hiking boots” that my blog is focused about but I just tried it a couple of days ago and I am so excited about it that I have to post it here

The five finger vibram shoes are designed to give a feeling like you are going barefoot, but still wear a shoes and protect our sole from all kind of stuff that we are not used to like sharp stones. It is said, that our body possition while walking, standing or running is highly affected of our footware, thus these five finger shoes retun us to our natural body possition -> barefoot.

I personally felt great with these shoes, although they are not designed for hiking, they are very nice to wear after a long day or just at the beach.

Probably you have been heard about GORE-TEX® once or more while looking for a hiking boots and asked yourself what is so special about it…well, actually it’s most likely that if you saw a breathable, waterproof shoes it’s made of Gore-Tex or at least some combination of it. GORE-TEX® fabric is a simple but genuine fabric that allows the air go through, but not the water, this is achieved by making small pores in the fabric, bigger than the air molecules and the vapor but significantly smaller than the water droplet. As for footwear, GORE-TEX® hiking boots offer us complete waterproof but breathable performance at moderate weather conditions and wide range of hiking activity.

Many of you asked me about the shoe sizes and how to convert the different sizes. So here is a great shoe size conversion table, hope it will be helpful !

The shoe size defined as the lenght between two extreme points of your feet, what you have to do is to stand on a piece of paper, larger than your feet, wearing socks and draw a scetch of your both feet. Very important to make sure that you stand on both legs equally and the pencil you use is perpendicular to the paper, then, draw two parallel lines at the two extreme points and this is your feet lenght (it’s absolutely normal if your feet are not exactly the same lenght, choose the larger one). Normally it’s adviced to wear shoes that are 15-20 mm longer than the size you measured.

Choosing the best hiking boots for you is something you can not exaggerate about. Wearing the right, the most comfortable boots is so important that I didn’t find a better way to describe it but by the following story taken from “National Geographic adventure magazine”, here is the summary of the event:

In April 2009, 17 years old “man” went to hike in N.H. “White Mountains”. He was in a good shape (he was an eagle scout) so he intended to do a 17 miles hike in one day. Somewhere in the middle of a hike he turned his ankle, at the beginning he tried to continue his hike, but after a while he decided to try a short cut where he was stopped by a stream swollen with spring runoff. Because he was well equipped, he didn’t worry. Things begun to be complicated when he didn’t return as soon as he planned. Finally, in the search operation were involved: Mountain Rescue Service, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department ,the Appalachian Mountain Club, Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue, and a Maine Forest Service helicopter.

All this because of wearing not suitable footwear, once again, hiking boots are very important! The rescue was successful, Fish and Game Department found him four days later, after a while his parents got a bill of 25,238$ to cover the costs of the rescue! Can you imagine 25000$ and all because he was wearing a hiking boots that were not perfectly match to him!

Sometimes, we try to save money, and it’s good to save, but there are a couple of things that better spend a few dollars more on at the beginning and save headache and possible money later and one of them is the hiking boots. So…get the best hiking boots for you and save time and money later!

Taking a good care of your mens hiking boots will ensure you that they will be longer lasting and also more comfortable while hiking. So here is a short guideline about how you should care your mens hiking boots.

First, before using them for the first hike, and actually better to do it before every hike is to waterproof the hiking boots. If you have a leather mens hiking boots use an oil based wax, just be sure that you are using the same color as the hiking boot, if there is no wax color that matches your mens hiking boots color, you can find a transparent hiking boot wax. The oil based wax layer will reject the water molecules and thus create a perfect waterproof layer on the leather. If you have a synthetic mens hiking boots it’s recommended to use a silicone based product. Anyway, if you are not sure about your mens hiking boots, consult with the manufacturer.

To prevent bad smell from your feet and from your mens hiking boots I highly recommend to use a talc powder before every hike, it doesn’t just prevent bad smells but also decreases the risk of fungus. Just put a little bit inside your hiking boot before a hike and it will reach all the areas by itself.

After a hike you should clean all the mud and dirt, for that purpose use a special brush. If you decided to wash your mens hiking boots with water, don’t use heat while drying them because heat may cause a deformation of your hiking boots.

If you know that you will not use the hiking boots for a while, put them carefully in a box, so they will not deform and put in a closet. If you have a leather mens hiking boots, you should wax them so the leather will not dry.